A wise man once said “If Bengali cuisine were Wimbledon, the hilsa would always play on Centre Court.” And he could not have been more accurate in describing what this fish means to Bengalis and Bengali cuisine. Every year, during Hilsa season, the city is swamped with Hilsa festivals that take place in practically every hotel and restaurant serving Bengali food. This year, I could go to only one of them – Sonar Ilish at the newest Bengali restaurant in Salt Lake, Sonar Tori. The place was on my wishlist for a long time and this festival seemed the apt time to pay a visit.

Sonar Ilish Festival

Sonar Ilish Festival at Sonar Tori

The menu is the brainchild of Bhaskar Dasgupta, Executive Chef of Sonar Tori and the name Sonar Ilish celebrates the irresistible combination of Hilsa and Shorshe (Mustard paste), which is used in most of the dishes in the menu. The festival is on till 2nd September and what is special about it is the availability of a variety of both East Bengal and West Bengal Hilsa dishes. There is an option to choose from either of two platters or à la carte. The platters are priced at Rs 1100++ and the à la carte dishes range from Rs 200 – Rs 750++.

Sonar Ilish Festival

When it comes to Hilsa, it is very difficult to choose a favorite but there is one dish that I have loved forever and that is Doi Ilish or Hilsa with yoghurt. When I saw that in the menu, I could not resist myself and placed an order for it and what came in front of me was perfection. A soft, perfectly cooked piece of fish in a yoghurt sauce that balanced the flavour of the Hilsa without overpowering it.

I also wanted to try something unique hence went for Laupata Ilish O Aamtel Bhaate which is Hilsa wrapped in bottle gourd leaves and steamed with mango pickle. The dish is served with rice and the pickled oil and with the fish, makes for a deadly combination. If you don’t mind your fish to be slightly tangy, definitely order this one.

Laupata Ilish O Aamtel Bhaate

As with its regular menu, the Sonar Ilish festival aims at reliving the culinary pleasures of old Bengal. You have time till 2nd September to go and romance the fish that is nothing less than a cultural icon to people of two countries.

The annual Hilsa festivals are on in full swing at the city hotels and till date, I have attended two. One was at Sonargaon, Taj Bengal and the other at The Gateway Hotel. Both these festivals are on throughout August so if you can’t find good ‘ilish’ in the fish markets, these are the places where you should go.

“If Bengali cuisine were Wimbledon, the hilsa would always play on Centre Court.” The “Ghotis” might disagree with this statement and replace hilsa with prawns but I completely agree with Samanth Subramanian. One of the major reasons why I love the monsoons is because of ‘khichuri’, ‘ilish bhaja’, ‘shorshe ilish’, ‘ilish pathuri’, ‘doi ilish’ etc etc. You get the gist. I love the fish! This time, all hotels and restaurants come up with Hilsa Festivals and one that I went to recently was the Hilsa Festival at Buzz, The Gateway Hotel.